

Many Indians supporting independence were angry about the visit, which led to calls for boycotts and agitation in the streets. Her second acclaimed Perveen Mistry novel is The Satapur Moonstone.The “Bombay prince” is the future Edward VIII, who in November 1921 took a four-month tour of India, one of the many colonial lands he expected to rule one day. A Murder at Malabar Hill, Massey's first multi-award-winning Perveen Mistry novel, was originally published in the United States under the title The Widows of Malabar Hill. Her novels have won the Agatha, Shamus and Macavity awards and been finalists for the Edgar, Anthony, Harper Lee Legal Fiction and Mary Higgins Clark prizes. She was a features reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun before becoming a full-time novelist. Sujata Massey was born in England to parents from India and Germany and now lives in Baltimore, Maryland. This courageous, likeable and determined young lawyer-turned-sleuth will appeal to readers of Phryne Fisher and Precious Ramotswe in a stunning combination of crime and mystery set in 20 th century India.


I also wanted to write a third novel including some favourite characters from earlier books, particularly Perveen's family members, Alice Hobson-Jones, and Colin Sandringham.' These ranged from silent films to daily government records and photographs of the tour and newspaper articles that chronicled the darker side of India's reaction to the imperial visitor. Sujata Massey says: 'I was compelled to write this novel because I found a trove of research material on the Prince of Wales's 1921-22 visit to India. When Freny's death is indeed ruled a murder, Perveen knows she can't rest until she sees justice done. But she's horrified by the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, an eighteen-year-old student who falls from a second-floor gallery just as the prince's grand procession is passing by her college.įreny had come for a legal consultation just days before her death, and what she confided makes Perveen suspect that her death was not an accident. The Indian subcontinent is chafing under British rule, and India's only female lawyer, Perveen Mistry, isn't surprised when local unrest spirals into riots. Bombay is astir with expectation as Edward VIII, Prince of Wales and future ruler of India, is arriving in the city to begin a four-month tour. The remarkable Perveen Mistry makes her triumphant return to solve a shocking murder on the streets of 1920s Bombay.
